Bruins trade for Flyers defenseman Meszaros

The Boston Bruins have obtained defenseman Andrej Meszaros from the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2014 third-round draft choice.

While other teams made big splashes at the NHL trade deadline on Wednesday, the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins took a conservative approach, shoring up their depth by acquiring a pair of veteran defensemen without paying an exorbitant price.

The Bruins sent a conditional third-round draft pick to Philadelphia in exchange for 28-year-old Andrej Meszaros just a couple of hours after plucking 30-year-old Corey Potter off waivers from Edmonton.

While Meszaros and Potter won’t fill the gaping hole created when Dennis Seidenberg was lost to a season-ending knee injury two months ago, they should make the Bruins’ defense better than it was before the deadline.

Even with Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid on the injured list, general manager Peter Chiarelli wasn’t willing to pay the higher asking price for some other defensemen — Andrew MacDonald of the Islanders, Chris Phillips of Ottawa and Buffalo’s Christian Ehrhoff. But he was able to increase his team’s defensive depth without giving up a player off his roster, though he did say he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to make a bigger deal.

Meszaros was picked in the first round, 23rd overall, by Ottawa in 2004 while Chiarelli was working in the Senators front office. The 6-foot-2, 223-pound left-shooting defender is similar in size to Seidenberg but isn’t as good a defender and doesn’t play as rugged a game.

“He’s a big defenseman, a thick defenseman. I’ve had a history with him. He’s played internationally with Slovakia. He plays both sides, he’s heavy on the puck, he’s more apt to push the puck than to defend but he can defend,” said Chiarelli.

Meszaros, who played for Slovakia in the Olympics for the third time in Sochi, will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. His contract carries a $4-million salary cap hit. He had five goals and 17 points for the Flyers in 38 games. He also spent some time in Philly coach Craig Berube’s doghouse — he was scratched 20 times before Christmas.

“I’m really excited, obviously. It’s a great opportunity, a great team and a great organization that I’m happy to be a part of,” said Meszaros, who hasn’t played a full season since 2010-11 because of injuries.

“Obviously, I really liked it here in Philadelphia; it was great — great guys, great organization. But this year wasn’t working for me. I wasn’t playing much, I was in and out of the lineup, so I’m happy now that I have the opportunity now to play hopefully more consistently and [get] better. I’m happy it will be a new, fresh start for me and I’m really excited.”

Chiarelli said he didn’t know if Meszaros would play in Thursday’s home game against Washington. He has been “playing man-to-man [with the Flyers] and we play a zone here, so he’s got to get acclimated. So that will be Claude [Julien’s] decision,” he said.

The draft pick in the Meszaros deal becomes a second-rounder if Boston makes it to the conference finals and he plays two-thirds of the playoff games or if he is re-signed by the Bruins before the draft. If he re-signs with Boston after the draft, the Flyers will receive a fourth-round selection in the 2015 draft.

The 6-foot-3, 204-pound Potter is a right-handed defenseman who has spent much of his career in the American Hockey League with Hartford, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Oklahoma City. He had five assists in 16 games for the Oilers this season. Like Torey Krug, Potter played at Michigan State.

He was a fourth-round draft pick of the Rangers in 2003 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program.

“He’s more of a two-way defenseman. He’s been in and out of the lineup. He’s responsible defensively, he’s got good range,” said Chiarelli.

It remains to be seen how much playing time Potter receives, but he is a relatively inexpensive insurance policy just in case McQuaid is out for the season with a quad strain.

“He just re-aggravated it. We had something similar with Jared Knight [in Providence] last year and you just have to basically shut that player down for a couple weeks and rest and he came around. But I don’t know, that’s what I expect would happen,” said Chiarelli.